


A Walk in the Woods

by fredbassett



Series: Stephen/Ryan series [2]
Category: Primeval
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-16
Updated: 2012-01-16
Packaged: 2017-10-29 16:08:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/321714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fredbassett/pseuds/fredbassett
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two men wonder why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Walk in the Woods

They walked back together through the wet woods.

The sabre-toothed cat and her two cubs were safely back in their own time, but there was no happy ending for the dead child. The police doctor and the Special Forces medic had loaded the small body into an over-sized zip-bag, designed for adults, and carried her carefully through the trees back to the van parked on the track. Both men were glad that they weren’t the ones who would have to break the news to her parents.

Ryan had called Lester. Stephen had rung Cutter. There hadn’t been a lot that either of them wanted to say, but the calls needed to be made.

Stephen wondered what Ryan was thinking, whether he regretted the episode outside the cave. It had certainly been unexpected. And welcome. Very, very welcome. Just thinking about it brought a faint flush to Stephen’s cheeks.

Ryan glanced at him. The captain’s expression was guarded.

“Why?” was all Stephen could of think to say.

Ryan shrugged. The truth was, Hart was just too bloody attractive for his own good, or anyone else’s for that matter, but he supposed that wasn’t really a good enough excuse. He didn’t normally go around kissing other men, especially not in the middle of a field op. So why then? Why Hart?

“You looked like you needed it,” was all Ryan had to offer by way of explanation.

“What about you?”

“I hadn’t just nearly had my throat ripped out by an over-sized kitty cat with teeth as long as your arm. I suspect you needed it more than I did.” It wasn’t much of an explanation, but it would have to do. For now, at least.

“What next?”

“We go back to the hotel. I write a report for Lester. My men get rat-arsed trying to forget what they’ve seen. They’ll probably try to start a fight in the bar. I might try to stop them. The usual sort of thing.”

It was probably the longest sentence Stephen had ever heard from Ryan. He found it hard to stop his eyes widening.

“Hardly surprising. Even my lads don’t see dismembered kids every day.”

Now Stephen really did blush. “That wasn’t what I was thinking.” Oh God, how did he get himself out of this one? He could make himself look crass by telling the soldier what had really been going through his mind, or he could just shut up. He decided on the latter.

Ryan watched the blush with mild amusement. He’d had a pretty fair idea of what had been going through Hart’s mind, but the blush was nice, so he wasn’t sorry to have caused it. The deep blue eyes were nice as well, framed by those ridiculously long, dark lashes. But there was nothing soft about the younger man. He handled a gun almost as well as Ryan’s own men, which was why the captain had turned a blind eye to Hart keeping hold of the Browning HP35. It never did any harm to have another competent shooter on the team.

The Special Forces leader looked at his companion calmly, without embarrassment and to his surprise, Stephen found he could meet the grey eyes the same way. He had a sudden, urgent need to ask Ryan what he was thinking, but he bit the words off before they could pass his lips. He didn’t know the other man well enough to start asking that sort of question. Maybe he never would.

They stepped out of the trees onto the rutted track. The soldiers were waiting by the van.

The police had gone, taking the child’s body. The idea of a long drive back to the University didn’t appeal. Stephen suddenly felt desperately tired.

“Adrenaline fatigue,” said Ryan. “Learn to recognise the signs, Hart, it might save your life sometime.” He was silent a moment and then added, “ The hotel’s closer than the University.”

The grey eyes gave nothing away and Stephen decided to take the comment at face value.

Ryan was right, he wasn’t fit to drive far. The hotel was certainly closer.

And it had a bar. And a drink seemed like a very good idea.


End file.
